A few "Bridal" photos!

First, I need to set the tone.  It was C.O.L.D.  and yes, I do live in Florida, but we still get cold here.... but not much.  So while our cold might be your winter wish weather, Ms. Heidi was freezing in her strapless gown.  It was no more then 30 degrees outside and the wind was blowing from off the water.

Heidi did a GREAT job in hiding her cold.
Enjoy some pictures from the day.
We had fun, downtown, she had brought some balloons and while the lighting was very bright and I had trouble with my exposure in the sun, I do enjoy the brightness of the photos!

Wedding Editing. Say that three times fast!

So I took close to 900 photos at the wedding.  I really think that is probably too few, as others I've spoken with take 2 or 3 thousand per wedding.  I just can not image sorting through and editing all those photos.
I actually have been working very  hard editing a storyboard for this wedding, starting from the getting ready photos, up to the ceremony, dad give away, bride/groom kiss, and into the reception, from the first dance to the end of the night cake service.
I'm on the cake service.  Whew.
And then I've got the other just random shots of the guests to go through.  I've been searching and tweaking how I organize the photos.
So this is my lesson 2. ORGANIZE.  Most likely you can view your photos and put them in order by date/time.  Group like items together.  make a folder.  Then open all RAW files and do a mass edit.  That will save a ton of time, you can go and tweak each additional one later.
Enjoy a few more photos from Melissa and Byran's Big day!

My first time.

Yes, I did it.

I sure did.

Was I ready? Was it time?  Was I developed?  Prepared? Informed? Protected?

no.no.no.no.no.and no.

but was it the most amazing experience ever!

yes!!

Details to follow!

Ok.  I shot my first wedding.  C.R.A.Z.Y.

I swore I'd never ever shoot a wedding, I promised myself to leave that alone.  But, an amazing opportunity opened up and I took it.  The couple was also my first non friend/family session as well, brought together by a craigslist posting!  This was a few months ago and since then, we've talked on facebook, the brides mother and I have spoken on facebook, the bride even babysat my children for me one day!  haha

I was super nervous, I mean this a day with no do overs.  If I were to totally mess up, if I was to accidentally reformat the memory card, drop my camera, use the wrong settings, or any other of a million things that can go wrong and usually do, happen, I can't say oh boy, I tanked, lets schedule a re-shoot.  No, this day happens once, the many firsts, they happen once.  

So I spent weeks reading, preparing, I went to the church several times, to take test shots at the time of the wedding, I studied my images and thought what I could do to make them better.  Prepared, right?

OMG! NO!  The day came and pfffffffffftttttttttttttt throw all that out of the window!  First I've only been to two weddings my entire life and I was IN both of them.  Everyone was crazy.  Everything was all over!  Busy Busy Busy.  I had MY lists of shots to get, I had MY plan.  Trash.  It was trash.

Lesson 1:

PART A